I'd give this 3 stars, my wife 5, so 4 is a comprise. I tried my best, but I couldn't finish this autobiographical ramble. Sacks's family is fascinatiI'd give this 3 stars, my wife 5, so 4 is a comprise. I tried my best, but I couldn't finish this autobiographical ramble. Sacks's family is fascinating, a great swath of brilliant relatives, especially his mother's siblings, and Sacks uses them, individually and collectively, as touchstones for his introduction to the sciences. Sacks himself is erudite, eclectic, likable and produced some of the most engrossing studies of the human mind and neuroscience ever recorded. Thing is, I find his writing style soporific and tedious, so I can't give him the personal attention he deserves. He's badly in need of editing (I've found this true in his otherwise fascinating studies of mental peculiarities), which always drives me nuts – my weakness far more than his. For those of you (like my wife) who find his writing more approachable, you'll like this. He was a genuinely good guy in every respect, and I'll continue reading his other works....more

What a disappointment. As always, Greenway is the ultimate stylist, a superb master of the English language. In his anthropological romp, Down Among tWhat a disappointment. As always, Greenway is the ultimate stylist, a superb master of the English language. In his anthropological romp, Down Among the Wild Men,, his skewering, sideways annihilation of hypocrisy and scientific balderdash was a restorative. Here, it's become blind arrogance, an inability to accept anything than anyone in the ignorant past has said of either Australia or America. For god's sake, man, you're not the only one with a mind in the unenlightened universe. Be kind to us benighted folk.Actually, I hope to go back to this at some later time. No one else has ever handled the English language with more inspired felicity....more

I should add another shelf, "didn't really try hard enough." Abish's "How German iIs It" is one of my favorite novels of all time, but this one, for mI should add another shelf, "didn't really try hard enough." Abish's "How German iIs It" is one of my favorite novels of all time, but this one, for me, is too much of a gag attempt, an authorial joke that's certainly fun to do but shouldn't necessarily be published. But no, I didn't give it a decent chance, but I've still got 20-30 books on the "in-the-middle'-of" shelf. Let someone else have a chance at this when I drop it off....more

This one seemed particularly interesting (visit daedalus books online for excellentTime to clean out the shelves with the dusty bookmarks on page 75.

This one seemed particularly interesting (visit daedalus books online for excellent deals in remainders) as a history of food, and I've already learned that the Persian leaders were making whole mosques of sugar at a time when my northern European ancestors were scratching fleabites. I also learned that I don't at all, at all like the writing, so off it goes....more

I love everything Jones/Baraka wrote in his younger days. He was the most intense, brilliant, fearless of the black writers of the '60s. His plays --I love everything Jones/Baraka wrote in his younger days. He was the most intense, brilliant, fearless of the black writers of the '60s. His plays -- "The Toilet," "J-E-L-L-O," "Slave Ship" -- were eviscerating, and his essays -- "Home" --had a skewering depth that nobody else reached. But like the rest of us, he got older, and though he didn't exactly lose his edge, by the time of the autobio (1984) he'd lost the cohesion that made his writing unique. I can read 3 or 4 pages of this at a time, but it's exhausting without being enlightening. I'm hoping that if I give it to a thrift shop, somebody in these very white hills will pick it up, but I doubt that....more

I gave up. Didn't care about the character, the helter-skelter presentation, the simpering mind-wander, the lack of plot with nothing else to replaceI gave up. Didn't care about the character, the helter-skelter presentation, the simpering mind-wander, the lack of plot with nothing else to replace it. Fooey....more

OK, I just couldn't get through it. The most horrendously unlikable assemblage of characters ever put in one place. I guess there's a use for this kinOK, I just couldn't get through it. The most horrendously unlikable assemblage of characters ever put in one place. I guess there's a use for this kind of description of the trendy rich despicable (some of whom happen to be insane), but I found myself choking on the descriptions of their ties and meals. I'd rather choke them with their ties....more

Not the poetry's fault--the Kindle-friendly version was an unholy mess. Fairly disgraceful that something mechanically read from a pdf gets released aNot the poetry's fault--the Kindle-friendly version was an unholy mess. Fairly disgraceful that something mechanically read from a pdf gets released as though someone had actually taken time with it. ...more

It may be the translation, it may be the uber-germanic complexity, but I suspect it's just Wittgenstein. His attempt to force the method of examinatioIt may be the translation, it may be the uber-germanic complexity, but I suspect it's just Wittgenstein. His attempt to force the method of examination of experience into a logical format makes about as much sense as the medievalists' stuffing of random, unlike objects into a single bag with a common label. Nah, I'm gonna relax with Bertie Russell....more

Actually, I doubt I'll ever finish this. It's interminable, even for its time (early 19th century). It starts be introducing characters over page afteActually, I doubt I'll ever finish this. It's interminable, even for its time (early 19th century). It starts be introducing characters over page after page, brings them all together with gushing words of love and unbelievable (really unbelievable) decency, starts to kill them off -- then bam, half way through, here comes a plague! It kills people. It kills just about everybody. It keeps killing people. And we get page upon page of wailing and grief, plus gutter-level philosophical musings. It feels like two novels have had a head-on collusion. But perhaps the worst aspect for me is the Shelley writes the first-person narrative as a man and she just can't pull it off. (As opposed to La Fanu writing "Uncle Silas," which I just finished, with the narrator as a woman and doing so masterfully.) Two and a half stars, where such permitted....more

Eggers may have crafted the best and funniest intro/preface to any book I know. I just wish the work itself had lived up to it.

I didn't finish it, inEggers may have crafted the best and funniest intro/preface to any book I know. I just wish the work itself had lived up to it.

I didn't finish it, in part because Eggers seems so annoyingly self-involved. What really got me, though, was that every time I picked up the book I realized I had absolutely no recollection of what I'd read last--even if "last" was 2 days ago. Hard to remember any other book which settled so little into my mind....more